Cell Phone Comes With an $83,000 Service

Since owning his cell phone, Piotr Staniaszek has never paid more than $147 a month for service. Last month, he was more than a little shocked to peek into his mailbox and find a phone bill totaling $59,000 in additional charges. When he called to complain about the perceived error, he discovered that his current phone bill was clocked at $83,000...and counting.

The reason for such a drastic increase in cost? Staniaszek had recently begun using his cell phone to download music and videos onto his personal computer.

Staniaszek has pleaded total ignorance for his actions, citing that he believed using his cell phone as a media downloading device was the same as if he were to plug the phone into his computer and use it as a modem. (Source: usatoday.com)

While admitting partial blame for the confusion, Staniaszek has opted to publicly blast his mobile carrier, Bell Mobility, saying that the onus of guilt should be theirs for failing to inform him of the unusual change in price once it began climbing to astronomical heights.

Bell Mobility was quick to defend their actions, claiming that records indicate that Staniaszek signed a contract clearly stating that he is not to use the phone as a means to download files onto his computer.

Staniaszek currently pays $10 a month to have a very limited mobile browser on his cell phone. The plan also allows him to surf the Internet, have access to email and download files to the phone itself. Any other service is to be paid out of pocket by the customer. (Source: bbc.co.uk)

The costs started accumulating once Staniaszek began using his phone to experiment with high-resolution movie downloads on his computer.

Consumers have complained for years about the high cost of operating a cell phone in Canada, but the criticisms have only increased with the widespread popularity of data-intensive devices like the BlackBerry.

Bell and Staniaszek have since negotiated the original $83,000 phone bill to $3,195.